Chevy dealer Percy Hunt combined two of his favorite pursuits, boating and selling Chevrolets, with this unique ’36 Chevy cabin cruiser.
Percy Hunt was a Buffalo Chevrolet dealer with a talent for keeping his business in the public eye. His franchise, Hunt for Chevrolets on Delaware Avenue in North Buffalo, was one of the more successful Chevy stores in the region, and his two sons, P.J. and Bob, continued the tradition, operating the dealership into the 1980s. But of all Mr. Hunt’s clever promotions, this one must be the most remarkable: a 1936 Chevrolet converted into an elegant cabin cruiser.
Chevy Chase, as Mr. Hunt called his car-boat hybrid, was created by lifting the body shell from of a ’36 Chevy Coach from its 113-inch wheelbase road chassis and dropping it into a 35-ft. mahogany boat hull. Power was provided by a standard ’36 Chevy Stovebolt Six, displacing 206.7 cubic inches and rated at 79 horsepower, in a conventional marine location. More than a stunt, Chevy Chase was apparently quite seaworthy, as this vintage newsreel demonstrates. Video follows.
Quite an idea. I cannot say that I would go to all that trouble for my boat. Just using the powerplant would be enough of a challenge. I might add that I had to look at that engine bay twice. I first thought that he just ran lake water through it but I saw the water-cooled exhaust manifold/heat-exchanger so it would conform to regulations. I don’t think you would find anything like that on the lake…